Electrical connector with stacked spacers

Abstract

An electrical connector includes a housing with a number of passageways, a plurality of contacts retained in the passageways, and a spacer assembly assembled to a rear side of the housing. The contacts are arranged in plural rows along an insertion direction of a mating plug. Each contact has a connecting portion extending along an up to down direction. The spacer assembly has at least two spacers stacked with each other along the up to down direction to jointly receive and position the connecting portions.

1. An electrical connector, comprising:
 an insulative housing; 
 a plurality of contacts retained on the housing, each contact having a retaining portion retained in the housing, a contact portion extending from one end of the retaining portion for connecting with a corresponding plug, a connecting portion extending from another end of the retaining portion along an up to down direction, and a tail portion extending out of the housing from the connecting portion; and 
 a spacer assembly assembled to the housing to position the contacts; 
 wherein the spacer assembly has a first spacer and a second spacer stacked with each other along the up to down direction, the first spacer defines a plurality of first through holes to position an upper side of the connecting portions, and the second spacer defines a plurality of second through holes which are aligned with the first through holes along the up to down direction to position a lower side of the connecting portions; 
 wherein the connecting portions are arranged in plural rows along a front to back direction, and the second spacer is formed with a plurality of first blocks at a front side thereof to resist one row of the connecting portions. 
 
     
     
       2. The electrical connector according to  claim 1 , wherein the first spacer defines at least one position hole upwardly recessed from a bottom surface thereof, and the second spacer is formed with at least one post upwardly extending from a top surface thereof to engage with the position hole. 
     
     
       3. The electrical connector according to  claim 2 , wherein the position hole is located outside of the first through holes along a transverse direction of the housing, and the post is located outside of the second through holes along the transverse direction. 
     
     
       4. The electrical connector according to  claim 1 , wherein the connecting portions comprise a plurality of rear connecting portions positioned in the first and second spacers, a plurality of middle connecting portions arranged at front of the rear connecting portions along the front to back direction, and the first blocks resist the middle connecting portions. 
     
     
       5. The electrical connector according to  claim 1 , wherein the housing defines a plurality of slots at a rear side thereof and extending along the up to down direction to receive the middle connecting portions, and the first blocks are forwardly received into the slots to make the middle connecting portions be sandwiched between the first blocks and the housing. 
     
     
       6. The electrical connector according to  claim 1 , wherein the spacer assembly further comprises a third spacer at front of the second spacer, and the connecting portions comprise a plurality of front connecting portions at front of the middle connecting portions, and the third spacer defines a plurality of third through holes to position the front connecting portions and a plurality of grooves at a rear side thereof to receive the middle connecting portions, and the first blocks forwardly received into the grooves to resist a rear side of the middle connecting portions. 
     
     
       7. The electrical connector according to  claim 6 , wherein the third spacer is formed with a pair of projections at two sides thereof, and the second spacer has a pair of hooks forwardly extending from two sides thereof to lock with the projections of the third spacer. 
     
     
       8. The electrical connector according to  claim 6 , wherein the middle connecting portions upwardly extend beyond the second spacer and lower than the combined first and second spacers, the third spacer has a height between that of the second spacer and the combined first and second spacers to prevent the middle connecting portions from inclining forwardly. 
     
     
       9. The electrical connector according to  claim 1 , wherein the housing has a receiving space at a rear side thereof and a pair of lockers extending into the receiving space from two sides thereof, the spacer assembly is received in the receiving space and formed with a plurality of raised portion outwardly protruding to lock with the lockers. 
     
     
       10. The electrical connector according to  claim 1 , wherein the electrical connector is a stacked USB 3.0 connector, the housing has a base and a plurality of tongues attached to the base, and the contacts are arranged in plural groups, and each group has a plurality of first contacts insert molded in the tongue and a plurality of second contacts attached to the base and extending to the tongue. 
     
     
       11. An electrical connector, comprising:
 a housing defining a plurality of passageways; 
 a plurality of contacts retained in the housing, the contacts having connection portions extending in a vertical direction while being arranged in plural rows along a transverse direction perpendicular to said vertical direction; and 
 a spacer assembly assembled to a rear side of the housing and having front and rear spacers being discrete while intimately stacked with each other along a front-to-back direction perpendicular to both said transverse direction and said vertical direction to jointly receive and position the connecting portions; wherein 
 not only each of said front spacer and said rear spacer defines through holes in the vertical direction to receive and position the corresponding connecting portions but also an interface between the front spacer and the rear spacer defines slots in the vertical direction to receive and position the corresponding connecting portions. 
 
     
     
       12. The electrical connector according to  claim 11 , wherein the housing and the front spacer and the rear spacer are configured to allow both said front spacer and said rear spacer to be upwardly assembled to the housing in the vertical direction. 
     
     
       13. The electrical connector according to  claim 12 , wherein the rear spacer includes upper and lower parts discrete from while stacked with each other in the vertical direction, and having the corresponding through holes aligned with each other in the vertical direction, and the upper part defines stepped structure on an upper end thereof while the lower part defines a planar structure on an upper end thereof. 
     
     
       14. An electrical connector comprising:
 an insulative housing defining a main body with at least a receiving cavity; 
 a metallic shell enclosing the housing except a mating port defined in front of the housing; 
 at least one mating tongue including a fixing section received in the receiving cavity, and a mating section extending forwardly from the fixing section with a mating face thereon under condition that a plurality of depressions are defined in the mating section; 
 a plurality of non-deflectable contacts embedded in the mating tongue with flat contacting sections exposed upon the mating face in front of the depressions and with tail sections extending vertically outside of the mating tongue in a perpendicular relation with the mating section; 
 a plurality of deflectable contacts assembled into the body with resilient contacting sections received in the corresponding depressions except mating apexes of the contacting sections, respectively, and with tail sections extending vertically outside of the mating tongue in the perpendicular relation with the mating section; 
 the mating tongue and the body being configured to allow the fixing section of the mating tongue to be snugly assembled to the body; and 
 at least one spacer assembled around a rear side of the housing and defining a plurality of through holes to receive the tail sections of both said non-deflectable contacts and deflectable contacts therein; wherein 
 a middle one of the non-deflection contacts defines a first width larger than a second width of all remainders of said non-deflection contacts. 
 
     
     
       15. The electrical connector assembly as claimed in  claim 14 , further including at least one additional mating tongue and at least one additional spacer. 
     
     
       16. The electrical connector assembly as claimed in  claim 15 , wherein said spacer and said additional spacer are vertical stacked with each other. 
     
     
       17. The electrical connector assembly as claimed in  claim 15 , wherein said spacer and said additional spacer are side by side assembled with each other. 
     
     
       18. The electrical connector as claimed in  claim 14 , wherein said spacer is assembled to the shell. 
     
     
       19. The electrical connector as claimed in  claim 14 , further including two mating tongues assembled to the housing parallel to said mating tongue, and two spacers both assembled with said spacer in a vertical stacked manner and a side-by-side manner, respectively. 
     
     
       20. The electrical connector according to  claim 13 , wherein the upper part and the lower part of the rear spacer includes means for engagement with each other in the vertical direction, and at least one of the upper part and the rear part has means for securing to the housing.